Hi All, > Documentation - Improve the ftools_help.xml files by filling in the 'inputs, > parameters and additional information'. Yes please, fTools documentation is definitely in need of improvements. However, I would prefer to 'leave behind' the ftools_help.xml file in favor of the more integrated help system that QGIS uses (see comment about help button below). > Plugins - Develop a plugin for fTools, based on suggestions from the fTools > developers regarding what is currently needed/wanted. This is also a great opportunity to add some of the features that users have been requesting. It might also be nice to have a vote, and simply build the most sought after tool (within the parameters of your (or whoever ends up building it) interests of course) > Vector Menu - Integrate existing plugins so they can become part of the core > qgis plugins, included in the 'Vector' menu. This is always something people are looking for, but we always need to make sure we are only explicitly adding plugin that have a strong-ish track record for stability, are general enough that most everyone will want to have them as part of their vector arsenal, and that someone is willing to maintain/bug fix the tool(s). Because the Vector menu is installed by default, I would recommend only stable and/or extremely useful/universally applicable tools make it into this menu as part of the QGIS core plugins. However, I don't see a problem with making it easier to 'add' plugins to the Vector menu as additional 'add-ons' that users can install themselves after the initial QGIS install. > Help Button - Add help buttons to each tool vector tool UI which link to the > fTools help file. Again, yes please! Help buttons on all the tools would be excellent. However, as I mentioned above, a proper integration with the existing QGIS help system would be much better, and would facilitate translations etc, which simply isn't feasible with the (very basic) XML file I am currently using. As an additional note, the XML file and about dialog have been removed from trunk in favor of the main QGIS about dialog. So this is obviously a good time to re-implement the help in a more integrated fashion. A short help page for each tool, with a simple diagram, explanation, parameters and their uses, plus links to relevant cites (wikipedia atticles, OGC for each tool would be great. See http://jaspa.forge.osor.eu/ST_Buffer.html for a nice simple example of what could be done within the QGIS help framework.
> Carson, would you be interested in mentoring Jackie for GSoC to work on > adding more stuff to ftools and improving things. Since ftools is your > baby you're probably the best qualified and this might be a good chance > to get your wishlist taken care of in addition to things mentioned in > the previous thread. I would be more than happy to mentor Jackie for a GSoC project, and fTools/Vector menu could really use the attention :-) Please also see my comments to the suggestions/points above. Carson -- Carson J. Q. Farmer ISSP Doctoral Fellow National Centre for Geocomputation National University of Ireland, Maynooth, http://www.carsonfarmer.com/ _______________________________________________ Qgis-developer mailing list [email protected] http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer
